North to the Yukon, Day 1 – The Longest Day

So just a note on the numbering of days. I have an itinerary with the days numbered, that start once Howard and I start riding together. So that makes this post Day 1.  The day we met up in Sidney is Day 0, and the day I prepared to leave was Day -1.

We had a good, long day of traveling Sunday. Had to cover a lot of miles (760 of them) so we would have more time up north. But we still didn’t let that keep us from collecting national parks stamps from Scotts Bluff National Monument, Fort Laramie National Historic Site, and the Little Bighorn National Battlefield.

As I’ve mentioned before, people who think Nebraska is flat and boring have never been to the northwest part of the state.  When you get to Scotts Bluff you really get a feeling that you are in the Old West.

Ralph and Howard at Scotts Bluff National Monument.

From there, it was on to Wyoming and Fort Laramie.  It’s a late 19th century fort with the buildings made of an early form of limestone concrete.  Historically interesting and important, if not nostalgic.

An early concrete bunkhouse from Fort Laramie.

Overall, the riding was good, but we hit some weather around Little Bighorn National Battlefield, near the southern Montana border. We saw the weather ahead and pulled under a bridge to close up the vents, put the rain covers over bags, and get ready for the wet. We had to give the Little Bighorn short shrift given that we were trying to get ahead of the weather. We weren’t entirely successful, but but managed to miss much of the rain, if not the wind.

The cemetery at Little Bighorn National Battlefield is a dramatic lesson in a dramatic setting. Storm clouds were approaching and pushed us on our way.

So far this has not been a gourmet trip. We got into Great Falls, Montana late enough that all the restaurants were closed, so we had to scavenge what we could from a convenience store for dinner.

Up Next: Going to Glacier, Going to the Sun, going to Canada.